IEEE Annual Election - Region 5 (Southwestern USA)

IEEE’s strength comes from having strong volunteer leadership, with the support of all IEEE members. To support member engagement in these important elections, IEEE Region 5 hosted a candidate forum. During this one-hour WebEx forum, hear from the candidates themselves, and hear the candidates answer questions submitted by R5 members like you.  

• View Candidates Recorded Forum

CHRISTOPHER B. SANDERSON, SMIEEE
(Nominated by IEEE Region 5)

Consultant
Houston, Texas, USA
https://christophersanderson.com

Christopher has a distinguished career spanning over 30 years in the electrical industry. He is a proud alumnus of Prairie View A&M University with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. While in the military, he received a commission as an officer in the US Army Air Defense Artillery Core, where he attained both enlisted and officer ranks and earned multiple honorable tours of duty.

Christopher held pivotal roles increasing customer engagement service and sales along with community impact in various Fortune 500 corporations, including Schneider Electric, GE, SIEMENS, ABB, and EATON. His business acumen has earned him multiple community service chairman awards, among them the Alliance Award, Gerald Phillippe Award, and Hilltopper Award.

In IEEE, Christopher's contributions have amplified membership engagement initiatives including Young Professionals and STEM and resulted in several R5 recognition awards, including the Jim Leonard Award, the R5 Directors Outstanding Service Award, and the IEEE-USA John Meredith Award.

 Statement

As R5 Director-Elect, I want to leverage my leadership and collaboration experiences to promote innovation, increase impact and awareness, and advance technology for the benefit of all communities. My IEEE focus areas include: effective communication with ALL members including Life Members and Young Professionals, enhancing membership engagement and value, forging partnerships to address pressing issues such as involving youth in STEM activities, and creating a safe, supportive environment for diverse member engagement. Specifically, Region 5 leaders can reach Section leadership through effective virtual meetings to share best practices from other sections and regions. My suggestion is to invite IEEE members to attend the virtual meetings as their schedules permit. We must recognize and reward academic and industrial members alike. I will share effective strategies and processes to strive to achieve senior and fellow membership status in our Region. Let us leverage our diversity of experience to make IEEE and Region 5 the top choice for technical professionals. I humbly request your vote for R5 Director-Elect. Thank you for considering my candidacy.

In IEEE, Christopher has been a tireless advocate for all IEEE members including Student Members, Members, Senior Members, Life Members, and Fellows in learning and sharing best practices. He is energetic in sharing his knowledge and experience in IEEE Standards with college students and professionals in the field. He is a leader in learning systems and sharing to benefit all IEEE members throughout the world.

Christopher received the 2018 IEEE Region 5 Jim Leonard Outstanding Member Award for his outstanding service to the Section, Region, and IEEE-USA. He was also the recipient of the 2020 IEEE Region 5 Director’s Award for Outstanding Service for his leadership efforts. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he learned and adapted the IEEE virtual meeting systems so Sections could co-host meetings anywhere in the world. He led membership engagement with significant results across Regions and the IEEE EAB awarded the 2020 Section Professional Development Award to the Houston Section.  He is well respected for his technical expertise in the Renewable Energy industry, and has received multiple Speaker Appreciation Awards from IEEE from 2016-2022. Christopher's exceptional service to the IEEE-USA membership was also recognized with the 2020 IEEE-USA John Meredith Professional Service Award. This national award is given to selected awardees who have delivered exceptional volunteer service and contribution to IEEE-USA membership. It was even more special because John Meredith was a friend and mentor for many years to him, Region 5, and IEEE at large.  

Since 2018 he has been an IEEE VoLT (Volunteer Leadership Training) mentor and has been an IEEE TryEngineering guest speaker, mentor, and sponsor to future STEM innovators.

Rice is the president of Brooks Consulting, in Austin, Texas, which provides design services for the semiconductor industry. He has more than 40 years of experience in the semiconductor industry and has been an independent consultant for 20 years.

Before starting Brooks Consulting, he held senior leadership positions at Motorola, Cadence Design, Synopsys, AMD, Mentor Graphics and IBM. He has managed multiple projects simultaneously while raising 3 children on his own.

Prior to his work in the semiconductor industry, he worked for Ford Aerospace in the NASA Mission Control Center. He worked in Mission Control for the first 7 Space Shuttle missions.

Rice has been an IEEE Senior Member since 2008. He is active in the IEEE Central Texas Section, where he has held several leadership positions including being the Chair for 4 years.

Statement

If elected to the serve the 6-year commitment as the Region 5 Director, I would perform all the duties of the position, as well as focus on these areas:

• Engage and inspire the next generation of IEEE members through STEM programs.
• Reengage the lost generation of IEEE members.
• Encourage Life members to be mentors for university student branches and secondary school.
• Continue the initiatives that the previous Director has started.
• Be open to the needs and ideas of the members I serve.

Region 5:

• 2016-2017 – Vitality Coordinator
• 2017-2018 – Humanitarian Coordinator
• 2018 – Chair of the Region 5 Annual Meeting and Student Competitions
• 2019 – Webmaster
• 2020-Present – Conference Coordinator

Central Texas Section:

• 2005-2006 - Consultants Network Treasurer
• 2007 – Consultants Network Chair
• 2008-2011 – Section Treasurer
• 2012-2015 – Section Chair
• 2014-Present – vTools Coordinator
• 2016-2018 – Section Nominations and Appointments Chair

IEEE Conferences:

• 2007 – Chair of the IEEE and Austin Chamber of Commerce 1st Annual Brain Party
• 2008 – Chair of the IEEE and Austin Chamber of Commerce 2nd Annual Brain Party
• 2009 IEEE 125th Anniversary Celebration – Chairman of the celebration event held in Austin (one of the three IEEE locations)
  • Social and networking activities, speakers, and career fair
• 2009 – Chair of the IEEE and Austin Chamber of Commerce 3rd Annual Brain Party
• 2010 – Chair of the IEEE and Austin Chamber of Commerce 4th Annual Brain Party
• 2011 – Local Chair IEEE-USA Annual Meeting in Austin Texas
• 2011 IEEE Sections Congress – Section Delegate
• 2011 – Chair of the IEEE and Austin Chamber of Commerce 5th Annual Brain Party
• 2013 50th ACM/IEEE Design Automation Conference (DAC) – Local Committee Chair
• 2013 IEEE Symposium on Product Compliance Engineering (ISPCE) – Organizing Committee Member
• 2014 IEEE Section Congress – Speaker
• 2014 IEEE Global Communications Conference (GLOBECOM) – Co-Treasurer
• 2016 53rd ACM/IEEE Design Automation Conference (DAC) – Local Committee Chair
• 2017 54th ACM/IEEE Design Automation Conference (DAC) – Local Committee Chair
• 2018 – Chair of the IEEE Region 5 Annual Meeting and Student Competitions
• 2018 – Arrangements Coordinator for IEEE Green Technologies Conference (GreenTech)